Cork & first day in Galway Day 3 & 4 Blog #4

---

When traveling "Sometimes things happen to YOU -and- Sometimes YOU happen to YOU."

I left the Shelbourne Sunday morning with the Bike fully loaded after a much quieter Saturday night then my late Friday night was. I did manage to have a couple pints at Doheny & Nesbitts and an awfully good shepards pie before closing out a the evening with a last pint at O'Donoghue's.

The ride down to Cork was windy and a spitting rain on and off. The Motorways (M roads) are a blessing for travel- time wise- but aren't the greatest for sight seeing and enjoying the country sides. There often small trees and shrubs blocking the view so if you are on an M road your goal is get there. I was about 25 Km from Cork when I needed gas, I searched the garmin for a gas station and selected one of the choices that seemed like it would be convenient stop. This is where my new quote above comes in to play "Sometimes things happen to YOU -and- Sometimes YOU happen to YOU." The garmin took me on a trip through the country side to an AMBER station in the middle of nowhere. It was an unattended station and have five pumps 4 of them said Diesel clearly marked but the other two said Green and Blue and didn't say Diesel on them. I guessed the blue was Kerosene ergo the green must be the petro. I put my credit card in and selected the green pump and filled up. I made it about 1km before the bike started chugging and immediately guessed that it was a fuel issue. I coasted up to a cottage where two people were getting into a car and told them my plight. I never did get Joe's last name but he ended up being one of my hero's for the next 36 hours. Joe was a recently retired Mechanic, Joe helped me push the bike to the back yard and gave me a ride to a gas station where my friends Walter and Cathy Kennedy drove up from Cork and collected me. I called the rental company Celtic Rider and explained what happened and the suggestion was to get some hose and good fuel and drain the fuel from the bike and put in some good fuel and try to restart. Walter & Cathy and I decided that would be a next morning project so they drove me down to Cork and my Hotel at the Clayton House. Cathy and Walter and I met when Bill Derry (fastener friend) and I walked into Murphy's pub in Hong Kong about 7 years ago. Cathy and I have kept in contact but haven't been able to connect on my previous visits to Ireland. We went to a couple of awesome Cork pubs prior to a great dinner, The next morning Walter brought some hose to drain the bad fuel and drove us back to Fermoy where the bike broke down. Joe who had helped me when I broke down had already drained the fuel by the time Walter and I arrived. However, we were unable to get the bike restarted estimating that the bad fuel had fouled the fuel injectors. Plan B was to call BMW assistance and get the bike carted down to the BMW dealer in Cork - 'Keary BMW'. Once we got the bike to Cork we spoke to Marc in the service department to see how fast they could drain the fuel and get me back on the road. Marc let us know they would work on it as soon as possible but couldn't give us a definite time or day for that matter. Walter suggested I call Celtic Rider rental and see if I could get a different bike then when mine was fixed it could go into the rotation. Louise from Celtic said that if I could get up there she could give me a different bike with the same luggage configuration. My other hero - Walter drove me two hours up to Kill to get the new bike. If not for Walter and Cathy life would have been a lot worse during the last 24 hours. Morale of the story is "never discount the quality of friends you might meet in an Irish pub no matter where it is located".



Louise and Paul's fix got me to Galway on schedule and in time to join the Caulfield's for the Galway horse races. I'm going to stop here because it is Wednesday morning and I've got to check out of my room in Galway and make my way up to Westport. I don't want to rush describing the terrific time I had a the Galway races (Irelands very cool version of the Kentucky derby) but lasts for a week.

---

Photos

IMG_4618
new bike fully loaded

IMG_4621
Jim Walter and Cahry (Cathy) at a pub before dinner

IMG_4625
Jim and Cahry after dinner at Counihan's photo courtesy of Walter

IMG_4626
Oliver Plunkett last stop in Cork with Walter and Cahry

IMG_4628
Picture from the M way (Motor Way) - why M's aren't great for views

Comments

[Ken Jackman]

You're Having TOOOO Much Fun!!
Jim, Great to hear of your exploits in Ireland!! Your blog writing is easy to read & very informative. Enjoy & keep the blogs coming!! THANKS!! Ken Jackman 708-309-5249 [e-mail]